– Marriott
Guyana was not listed among places in the region where the Marriott International is opening hotels between 2008 to 2010 because the Kingston Georgetown hotel project is still being evaluated.
Marriott International last week announced the operations of five new hotels for the Caribbean and Latin American region with two opening this year and another three in 2010. No mention was made of one in Guyana. The first two of the five Marriott hotels will opened in Ecuador and Suriname this year and the remaining three will be opened in 2010 in Honduras, Peru; and in Trinidad and Tobago.
Marriott Vice President with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean Rudolfo Guillioli yesterday told the Stabroek News during a telephone conversation that the Marriott has taken no decision on whether it was going to manage the hotel being developed by the locally registered company Adam Development/Urbahn Associates (ADUA).
He said that although the developer Adam Develop-ment Construction Company and Marriott International have signed a letter of intent on the management of the hotel, the matter remained the same as it was when the Stabroek News had spoken with him almost a year ago. “The project is still in the process of being evaluated. Nothing has changed,” he said.
The project is being developed by Pakistani businessman Michael Ahmad and Italian Natale Barranco who have merged the names of their US-based businesses to name the locally registered company. ADUA said it has procured funding for the US$52 million project but was awaiting approval of its environmental impact assessment (EIA) before it could commence work.
According to the project profile, the life of the project is expected to be 30 years covering 2010 to 2040 and it expects an annual turnover of US$11 million per year over the first ten years of operation.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds, whose office is near to the project site and who is in steady contact with the developers had told the Stabroek News in April that he expected the project to start during the middle of this year after which it is expected that the project would be up and running in 2010.
